Telling Time in Korean

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So while trying to think of a new post for the blog, we realized we have never done a post on telling time in Korean. We did do a post on time words here awhile back so this will help with that post as well.

For time in Korean, there are two sets of numbers used. They are the native Korean numbers and sino Korean numbers. For telling hours, you will want to use the native Korean numbers. For minutes, you will use the sino Korean numbers. So for example, if we wanted to say 1:05, we would say:

한 시 오분 (han si o-bun)

You can see “한” which is the number one in native Korean and then “시” which is used as a time counter for hours. After that you will see “오분”. “오” is the number 5 in sino Korean and “분” is a time counter for minutes.

What about…8:34?

We would say:

열덟 시 삼십사분 (yeol-deol si sam-sip-sa-bun)

Now if you want to say something like it’s two o’clock, then you would add “이예요” or “예요” depending on if the last letter is a vowel or a consonant.

It’s 3 o’clock = 세 시예요 (se si-ye-yo)

It’s 4:45 = 네 시 사십오분이예요 (ne si sa-sip-o-bun-i-ye-yo)

If you want to ask the time:

몇 시예요? (myeot si-ye-yo) = What time is it?

List of vocab in this infographic:

한 시 (han si) = one o’clock

두 시 (du si) = two o’clock

세 시 (se si) = three o’clock

네 시 (ne si) = four o’clock

다섯 시 (da-seot si) = five o’clock

여섯 시 (yeo-seot si) = six o’clock

일곱 시 (il-gob si) = seven o’clock

여덟 시 (yeo-deol si) = eight o’clock

아홉 시 (a-hop si) = nine o’clock

열 시 (yeol si) = ten o’clock

열한 시 (yeol-han si) = eleven o’clock

열두 시 (yeol-du si) = twelve o’clock

십오분 (sip-o-bun) = a quarter past

삼십분/반 (sam-sip-bun/ban) = half past

사십오분 (sa-sip-o-bun) = a quarter to

Remember that romanization is only a tool! Try not to depend on it too much and try learning the Korean alphabet and how to pronounce the letters properly to have an easier time learning Korean.

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